Japan: 'A Comparison of Beautiful Women in Western Hairstyles', Meiji Period woodblock triptych by Toyohara...

Toyohara Chikanobu (1838-1912), often known by his contemporaries as Yoshu Chikanobu, was a prolific woodblock artist active during the Meiji Era of Japan. He served as a soldier for the Tokugawa loyalists at first, but following the Shogitai's surrender, he was remanded to the Takada domain, and in 1875, he decided to become an artist.

He soon become renowned as a highly skilled ukiyo-e artist, with his works ranging from Japanese mythology to depictions of the battlefields from the wars of his time to women's fashions and shunga (erotic art). He produced a great many war prints in triptych format, documenting the Satsuma Rebellion, the First Sino-Japanese War and the First Russo-Japanese War, among other conflicts and events.